#bitter book review

[bookblrihardlyknowher]

Popular Books I Read and HATED

*Disclaimer: If you like any of these books, slay! I'm happy for you! These are just my own consumer choices, and imo negative book reviews are just as helpful as positive ones!*

This list is not long because I don't actively dislike many books that I read, and I have a very good sense of what I will and will not like, but there are some I had to read/were misled into reading so here we go:

1. Tender Is The Flesh

by Agustina Bazterrica

My rant review is above if you want more details but recently I've seen a few videos that articulate my feelings in a way that I couldn't before so im going to add a few reasons here that were not included in the original post:

It gave very Qanon and general antisemitic vibes: i.e blatant conspiracy made up by the "wealthy liberal elites" to encourage cannibalism for their own enjoyment (I know she's Argentinian however that doesn't mean im not allowed to get the ick from it)

Purposefully inaccurate depictions of meat industry and disrespect for farmers (context: im a vegetarian from farm country with a roommate who works in the cattle industry - Angus beef if you're curious - so im very familiar with the process and cannot say in good conscious that it is all bad -> just support local farmers <3)

world building makes little sense

COWS DO NOT EQUATE TO HUMANS NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO !!!!!!!!

the "disease" doesn't make sense (even if its made up who would believe it)

No themes were treated with the depth nor nuance they require (capitalism, feminism, veganism etc.)

I think thats all I haven't covered but this is the only book I have ever read where my hatred of it continues to grow with each day. I went out of my way and deleted it from my reader and get annoyed every time I see it. And for the record (because yes i'm salty) I didn't hate it because it was too disturbing, in fact I've read and loved worse and ive been an avid horror reader since I was (admittedly too) young. I hate it because there wasn't a well done story underneath the gore. I'll say it loudly for the people in the back GORY HORROR BOOKS STILL DESERVE A GOOD/INTERESTING STORY, especially if you want to try to put complex themes in it. If you cannot write a deep story but you're good at and enjoy gore, write yourself a lil 100 page splatter punk and we can all have a good time <3

Unlike with Tender Is The Flesh I don't have a ton of thought out critical reasons for the rest of these soooooo I'm going to give my highly subjective reasons -> I totally understand why some like them <3

2. The Handmaids Tale

by Margaret Atwood

hated the writing style

It didn't keep my attention

disliked the ending so much I actually threw it across the room <3

3. The Hobbit

by J.R.R Tolkien

hated the writing style

male centered fantasy is not my vibe

my ADHD cannot handle long incredibly descriptive sections in books -> I physically fell asleep multiple times while reading this book

honestly even with the movie I fall asleep every time

0/10 book I want to read

10/10 bedtime story

4. Lord of The Flies

by William Golding

hated the writing style

hated most of the characters (and not in a slay anti-hero way)

was forced to read it in high school and it single handedly sent me into a 4 year reading slump... I missed so many good books because of this and will forever hold a grudge

5. Romeo & Juliet

By William Shakespeare

I'm too jaded and gay to enjoy this -> every single character is so painfully stupid

tbh im just bitter that his (imo) better plays get less love than this one, its way over hyped

but I will give it points for boring me so much that I wrote my first fanfic (Romeo x Mercutio if you're curious ... no its not posted anywhere and it never will be <3)

sidenote -> Shakespeare plays I love incl:

Hamlet (duh im a depressed emo gay on Tumblr)

Macbeth (also duh, witches and female manipulator... need I say more)

Othello (a slow burn for the true crime girlies)

Measure for Measure (absolutely underrated, please please please look into this play -> I saw a production of it and it was incredible)

[marythequeen]

hello guys, i'm here to talk about leah toole's fictional book on mary i of england's. it's called the saddest princess.

at first, i want to clarify that i am highly aware that this book is fictional and not a biography. so you don't need to say "hey but it's fictional"

also, before reading her book, leah toole was someone i really liked. i used to follow her on tiktok and was really excited to read her book. however as you can understand, i am very, very disappointed.

let's start.

just after i had read the prologue i knew that many things would piss me off throughout the book because it was horrendous.

the vilification of queen mary is outdated now and seeing even the people that claim to like her doing this, made me feel awful. according to countless reports, in her death bed, she was peaceful and her conscience clean. the people that she had executed were mainly guilty of treason and many others were executed without her knowledge. i don't think that feeling guilty about this would be her main concern.

but do you know who was rather frightened and surrounded by guilt? her half sister elizabeth.

apart from this, if you ever saw a video of leah toole's, you probably know that she's a great hater of the spanish princess because of its inaccurate portrayals. mind you, the spanish princess tv show never ever claimed that it was historically accurate or something like that but leah toole was MAD (and rightfully so!! i totally agreed with her.) about it anyway. so imagine my disappointment when i started to read her book eagerly then realized that it, in many aspects, was a cheap copy of the tv show.

"there was no lone for this useless baby girl." i mean, really? that scene and almost everything about it was in the spanish princess. AND this whole scene could be proved wrong with countless reports. do i think katharine of aragon suffered from a kind of postpartum depression? i absolutely do. but do i think she HATED her own daughter for years? no because that's not what happened in reality.

again, this is a historical fiction book and it doesn't have to be historically accurate but it's called a hypocrisy when you criticize another material because of the same thing you did yourself.

(ps. katharine of aragon had blue eyes, not dark brown.)

mary's birth scene was AWFUL. henry saying mary is a useless girl was highly inaccurate. writing such things while mary's reputation is STILL unfairly blackened is very unnecessary.

"katherine had tried to love her daughter. but no matter how hard she tried, nothing the girl did held any meaning in katherine's eyes." are you kidding me??

also having mary curse constantly? this woman didn't know the meaning of whore until she was forty something. i can't even imagine her saying words such as bastard, harlot, whore etc. (in the book she called anne boleyn names when in reality she simply called her that woman. which is respectful enough.) especially when she used the word bastard when she was nine? now c'mon! throughout the book, the author is obviously influenced by the spanish princess tv show, even though she'd been very critical about the show. there's a pretty word for situations like this :) and it's called hypocrisy.

and *that* scene with duke philip? even the most passionate mary hater wouldn't write something like this. that was worse than wattpad, worse than ao3. (if you didn't read the book, take a deep breath, she had sex with him. again, did not happen in reality.)

apart from all of this, the only thing that i've liked about this book is clearly seeing that mary wasn't as forgiving as her mother was. because that's what actually happened. long story short, i was eager to read the other books of this series but i don't think that i'll be reading the rest. i am so very disappointed with this. it was such a waste of time. and i have to tell you that i am also incredibly sad because i used to enjoy her content a lot.

there are many more issues about this book but unfortunately i don't have enough time or will to live to write a detailed review but i think this'll do anyway.

lastly, at least there are very few quotes that i've liked and would want you to see.

—chapuys shrugged, "it would seem the king himself is struggling to separate the two religions," he said, "and his newest testaments have received mixed reactions from his council. i believe that in his heart he remains a catholic, but he does not wish to be told by anyone whether it be the pope or his best advisor - what he can and cannot do."

—"of all the women in my father's life, i have survived him the longest. and that alone is a great achievement."

—"i survived my father's tyranny for all my thirty-three years. this edward seymour could not scare me if he turned up at my doorstep dressed up as the devil himself."

[badgopher]

Friday

I've been on a kick of just shuffling my Liked Songs when I want to listen to music and like, wow, what variety! A few weeks ago I did nerd stuff and liked a couple thousand songs in Spotify that were once in my iTunes library, and it's been great to hear even more random stuff I haven't heard in ages.

A week ago I was pretty certain about moving, but now I'm waffling. There is literally nothing forcing me to do this. The job market is… not great. If I stay there's a good chance I'll gain experience with things that would be good to have on a resume. But if I don't go now, then when? I can make excuses to stay here forever. Something something do it scared? I don't know. I have a little more time to figure it out.

Apparently the apartment building is settling and that means they need to rip up my floor and patch a crack in the slab that runs the length of my living room. lol

Daylight Saving Time 💛🔆🧡☀️🌞😎

"I had trouble accepting the unlikely friendships and respect the heroine was given, considering the actual position of women in that era." My dude, it's historical fiction. Suspend disbelief and roll with it.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March by Rick Remender

"'Oh, to see what they did to you. It would break your Captain's heart.'"

Year Read: 2025

Rating: 2/5

Thoughts: This obviously should have been read before The Iron Nail (and possibly Loose Nuke as well), but comic book chronology is inscrutable from the outside. It provides some backstory on Ran Shen and his path from SHIELD agent to villain. Unfortunately, I don't find him that interesting, which is a problem for the main character. I know Remender was going for a very vintage James Bond vibe, and we definitely get that with the train and the espionage, but some qualities of that genre haven't aged so well. I think Shen is supposed to be witty and debonair, but mostly he comes off as arrogant and over-confident. He brings most of his problems on himself by failing to listen to anyone else.

On the plus side, this has some wonderful Winter Soldier moments. It's very fun to see Bucky pop up again and again and rain on everyone's parade. I don't think he should overshadow the main character, but he does, and it's yet another iron nail in Shen's coffin. The other villains are… weird. Remender does okay when he's writing the main Marvel cast, but some of his originals don't quite hit the mark. There's a strange woman made of worms (cue some uncomfortable and unnecessary penetration comments--this isn't a Venom comic, my dude) and then there's Lord Drain, a pale Dracula-looking guy with entirely too much time for villain monologues. I'm also not convinced it's that simple to break through Bucky's programming; Brubaker's Steve literally has to use the cosmic cube to bring his memories back, but here a little electricity is enough? I like the point Remender's making about SHIELD, but the whole thing comes over a bit clunky/preachy.

On a side note, shocking how some of the best Stucky lines come from the most lackluster comics. I can't believe a character called Lord Drain came up with that one.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb:

When a winter storm traps eight teens in a remote ski cabin, they find themselves stranded with a killer—who may be one of their own. From the acclaimed author of The Ivies and Pretty Dead Queens comes a YA thriller that will make your blood run cold.

The trip of a lifetime might be the death of them all.

The students of LA’s elite Warner Prep can’t wait for their Senior Excursion—five days of Instagrammable adventure in one of the world’s most exclusive locations. This is not your average field trip.

Which is why eight students can’t believe their bad luck when they end up on a digital detox in an isolated Colorado ski chalet. Their epic trip is panning out to be an epic bore . . . until their classmates start dropping in a series of disturbing deaths. The message is clear: this trip is no accident.

And when a blizzard strikes, secrets are revealed, betrayals are exposed, and survival is at stake in a race to the bitter end.

Review:

A YA thriller that is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None meets Gossip Girl about a mountain retreat for a select group of students who all have terrible secrets and deeds except for one uninvited guests...and when bodies start dropping so does the betrayal begin. Eight teens are are trapped in a remote ski cabin where they find that they are being killed off and that the killer might be one of them... and they all have a motive. Warner Prep is an exclusive school and the students who go there all have secrets.... and when eight students get are put together for a trip all their secrets will come to light. From the jealousy, to the cheating, to the sabotage and the anger... they all want each other gone.... but someone is willing to go through much greater lengths to make it happen, can they figure it out before it's too late. And Then There Were None is my favorite Agatha Christie story so when I found out this was inspired by that and had a touch of Gossip Girl, I was so on board. The story starts off interesting as it jumps from various POVS and does have moments of recalling the past, but where the story ends is the problem for me. The story ends in such an abrupt open ended kind of way, it just doesn't feel satisfactory in the least and it just feels like nothing really paid off or was resolved. There was only one likable character in the book and the fact that she barely had an ending just felt so unfinished. The reveal of the killer and there motive just didn't feel all that earned or well thought out. I wish I liked this more but I do think that teen YA thriller readers would have a fun time with this.

Release Date: October 15,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's | Random House Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[newvision]

— Emily Voigt, from ‘the Beast’ (published by Bitter Melon Review)

[deanncastiel]

2024 Book #117

Title: Ithaca Author: Claire North Genre: Historical Fantasy Series: The Songs of Penelope, Book 1

‘The greatest power we women can own is that which we take in secret.’ Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the isle of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom. Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’s empty throne – not yet. But as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war . . .

Rating: 4.5 ⭐

Quick thoughts: fuck men and them poets 🖕🖕🖕. feminist retellings of mythology my absolute beloved. scathing, laugh out loud funny, athena is a pick-me and that's fucking hilarious. the feminine rage 🤌🤌🤌

CW: SA (nothing explicit but very prevalent)

Similar Recs: 1) Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel 2) Circe by Madeline Miller* 3) Ariadne by Jennifer Saint*

*have not actually read these but from the sounds of them they are very similar

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

If I See You Again Tomorrow

YA contemporary/light sci-fi

follows a boy almost a year into a time loop, who has almost given up on finding a way out

until a new boy shows up at his school - which has never happened before - and he’s motivated to step out of his monotony and maybe find a way out

exploring loneliness and social isolation

[dykes-on-books]

What is up, bookworms! Chapter Two of Dykes on Books is now live on most major platforms, give it a listen and shout out what you think of it! Enjoy!

[la-libreria-chula]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Selena (@la_libreria_chula)

Half a year and so many books!! I think I have read a lot of good ones so far, new releases and ones that came out years ago. Although I'm pretty sure most were not from tbr 😚 I started a book club with some friends and will be posting the books we chose for that, one being part of this list!

[wearethekat]

April Book Reviews: Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai

Another book I picked up from the library based on the cool cover and premise. Magical calligrapher Elle is in deep cover, hiding her skills in order to remain unnoticed. But a job writing glyphs for pretty half-elf agent Luc tempts her to show off her talent-- plunging her back into a world of magical intrigue she thought she'd left behind decades ago.

The fairly standard urban fantasy setup of this book is elevated by drawing heavily from Chinese mythology, rather than just the usual vampires and werewolves. I also liked that both protagonists are one hundred year plus experienced immortals. However, I did think the pacing was slightly wonky-- the romance plotline was resolved two-thirds into the book, leaving the action plotline to wobble on by itself, when I like it better when these resolve simultaneously for Maximum Drama.

Overall, a genuinely original debut rooted in Chinese mythology. I'll be interested to see what Tsai writes next.

[coffeeand-crime]

Review of The Bitter End by Alexa Donne

Summary (spoilers included, sorry for it being long):

This book is about 8 seniors in high school, all somewhat knowing each other, whether through romantic relationships, rivalries, "friendships", or acquaintances. It switches from the current timeline, which is the group at a digital-detox winter senior trip, and 3 years ago, at a party during their freshman year.

There are 9 people in total at the trip:

Ms. Silva, Warden Prep's guidance counsellor and one who plays a very important role in getting these mostly privileged and spoiled students into the top prestigious university program of their choice.

Declan is exes with Delaney, who he cheated on with his current girlfriend, Eden. He is a very fame-hungry TikTok "star" who goes by the nickname of "Prime". It is his party that the timeline routinely switches to for his TV pilot being filmed.

Eden is an influencer, the girlfriend of Declan and is best friends with Camille.

Camille is a dedicated gymnast who has/had a rivalry with Piper, a former gymnast. She is best friends with Eden.

Piper is a former gymnast and was technically not supposed to go on this trip, as she wasn't reassigned to this specific senior getaway and was instead assigned by her counsellor. She is in the long process of recovering from a shoulder injury, leaving her with one non-hurting arm. She is also secretly carrying a phone to record, as she doesn't trust anyone.

Delaney is Liam's girlfriend and is formerly best friends with Willa, who she seemingly dislikes. She has this perfect timeline with Liam planned out, with both of them going to Yale for their respective programs.

Liam is Delaney's boyfriend and is going to Yale for pre-med. He has Boy Scout skills perfect for when the group gets trapped due to a blizzard.

Willa is an outcast in the group, not friends with anyone except for Liam, who she is secretly sleeping with behind Delaney's back and whom she is in love with. She is very desperate about her love for him, despite the fact that he is openly choosing to be in a relationship with someone else. She is also very insecure about her physical appearance.

Wyatt is obsessed with video games, which doesn't go well with the digital-detox theme of the trip. He is also very creepy and makes weird, sexually suggestive comments towards the girls.

Declan, Eden, Camille, Delaney, Liam, and somewhat Wyatt seem to all be one friend group, with Willa and Piper are outsiders. It is said that Willa is only at the school on free tuition courtesy of her dad, who is a teacher there and Piper is decently well-off, but most of her household's disposable income goes to her medical bills and gymnastics.

I'll recap the party timeline first: all 8 students are there, plus Liam's 12 year old cousin, Noah. At this time, Declan and Delaney are together but Declan cheats on her with Eden. However, in the present time, it seems like they are all on good terms, and Delaney was looking to break up with him anyways. Liam is new to the school, and Willa has a big crush on him. She has her first kiss to Wyatt after he forces herself onto her. However, Liam kisses her after comforting her, with Delaney witnessing and being jealous. Piper arrives late to the party, with Camille being unhappy to see her. Camille then attempts to spike her drink with Visine to embarrass her but Piper catches her in the act. Later, Eden buys some hard drugs from Wyatt and puts it into everyone's drinks, with only Declan knowing. Piper is framed for this. After Delaney recovers from the side effects of her spiked drink, she receives threatening messages from someone unknown named Cassie. A photo of her coughing on a waiter at the party is shown, and as this is during the COVID-19 pandemic, she receives a lot of hate for it.

The book reveals that Noah unfortunately passes away around the time of the party, with the party being related to his death. His death is referenced throughout the book but the cause isn't revealed until the end. Throughout the whole party, he was being babysat and Willa, wanting to make a lasting impression for Liam, kept trying to entertain him with YouTube science experiments. At the end of the book, Willa reveals that she showed Noah the science experiment that ended up accidentally killing him. It is technically her fault, as she showed him and feels guilty, but never told Liam what she did until the end.

The book rotates between three POVs in the main and current timeline: Willa, Piper, and Delaney. These three are also heavily featured as POVs for the party timeline, as everyone gets one.

In the present timeline, all 8 seniors arrive at the winter house. They are at the top of the hill and at the end of the night, Eden drugs Ms. Silva with some pills to get her to sleep so the rest can party and drink. Some of them get drunk, including Declan. In the morning, Declan is found dead on the couch by Piper. The group comes to a conclusion that he drank some amaretto and got an allergic reaction, but was too drunk to find his EpiPen and passed away.

After finding out about the death, Ms. Silva goes to use the snowmobile to drove back to town to get help, as there is a bad blizzard. Eden, devastated by her boyfriend's death, goes to sulk in the basement. When Camille and Piper go to find her again, they see blood all over the sauna room and find Eden's dead body. They believe she was locked in the sauna, and the blood was from her, banging on the windows. While the rest try to move the two dead bodies to the basement, a flashlight spots Ms. Silva's dead body. While the other two deaths looked accidental, Ms. Silva was clearly attacked, leaving them to realize that there is a murderer among them. Piper is initially suspected, but reveals that the reason she left gymnastics was because she has EDS, a disorder that results in frequent injuries. This has resulted in her long recovery time and her having to wear a heart monitor.

Now Willa, Piper, Delaney, Liam, Wyatt, and Camille are left. Wyatt is next to pass, as he is trapped in a room whilst a fire is occurring. The fire is put out but the others couldn't get to him in time. Everyone is growing suspicious of each other, with many secrets revealed, including who actually drugged them at the party and Liam's cheating situation, but the blame is ultimately put on Camille. She goes to her room to sulk, and while Willa is upset as Liam chose to stay with Delaney over her, she begins to feel unwell and nearly dies after trying to leave the house. Whilst Liam and Delaney are trying to leave the house via snowshoes, they come back after Piper yells for help. Liam performs CPR on Willa and revives her. However, Delaney finds Camille dead, with a not saying "I'm sorry". It is believed that she killed herself through carbon monoxide after her true identity was discovered.

The rest believe that they should wait for help the next day, as a driver will becoming. In the evening, Piper finds Ms. Silva's phone and discovers an email thread about a plan to "get revenge" with another student, who is seemingly Liam due to the email name, at the current trip. Piper tries to act cool in front of Liam and the four end up sleeping in the common room for the night. Piper gets up early and wanders to a room, where she discovers Delaney's name along with others carved into a wall. Delaney finds her, attempting to gaslight and attack her but is stopped by Liam and Willa. Tied to a chair, Delaney once again tries to gaslight the others and place the blame on Willa, attempting to convince Liam to leave the others behind because of Noah's death and the fact that the victims were not good people. Willa reveals that she gave Delaney a few drops of Visine before. Delaney is angry that Willa was the one who sent a video of her mocking poor people to Yale, resulting in her admission to be revoked. Liam realizes she is not a good person and sides with Willa. Delaney attempts to attack Willa before she is hit by Piper and falls unconscious. While the three are discussing what to do, Delaney disappears.

The ending of the book comes at Willa and Liam's graduation. Piper is elsewhere, but they keep in contact with her. They are both going to Yale and are together. Delaney is still missing. Willa gets a text from an unknown number, who is Delaney. She asks Willa why Liam would have Visine in the first place, leaving her to realize that Liam didn't choose her, instead, Willa was all he had left.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Once again, sorry for the lengthy summary. I just finished this book and felt that since it is a standalone, it has so much information I wanted to cover since it was fresh in my brain.

I am so confused about the ending. Particularly, why Liam would use Visine on Delaney and Willa? Did Liam use it Delaney? I know it is implied that Liam used in on Willa, who thought she had altitude sickness and along with the carbon monoxide poisoning and it was due to Delaney telling Liam what Willa did with Noah, for some revenge. But I don't get why he still chose Willa, no offense to her but he probably could've had a lot of people due to his money and good looks.

I enjoyed the book and twist. The concept was pretty typical, a group of teenagers being stuck in a house with a murderer amongst them. I genuinely thought that the murderer was Liam, who wanted revenge for Noah's death. Remember, Noah's cause of death wasn't revealed until the end and was much more lacklustre than I expected. It made it seem like it related to the party, when really it was because Willa showed him some experiment at the party. The fact that the three others had rotating POVs in the present timeline really sold that idea. I was very shocked, but later get the idea that Delaney was the actual murderer.

I disliked all of the characters except for Piper. Willa was somewhat tolerable, but she was too hung up on Liam. He was a guy that would never choose her first, and it was very apparent from the moment they meant, as he was more attracted to Delaney. I'm pretty sure he was only with Willa because Delaney wouldn't sleep with him. Not to mention that when the cheating was revealed and Delaney forgave him, he went back to her. Willa's behaviour was pathetic and very embarrassing, I didn't have any sympathy for her after she kept crying over Liam.

Piper was not even supposed to be there. She was just "nosy" according to Delaney, but that poor girl had no clue why everyone around her was dropping dead because she didn't have any involvement in any of the secrets.

Delaney's motive to kill Willa was clear: she was breaking up her "happy" relationship. I guess Liam and Piper were also supposed to live along with Delaney, and maybe she never planned to kill Willa. Eden and Declan were cheating behind her back, and were the two that knew about the heavy drugs, resulting in Delaney receiving hate comments and threats. Delaney was also clearly a psycho, leading to more reasoning to why she would have a motive to kill them. Wyatt supplied them with the drugs. I am not too sure about Camille. I guess she was just the fall guy. And is was said that Ms. Silva was supposed to leave, but she caught on to Delaney and was killed before her plan went out of hand.

I found the beginning very difficult to read due to the large amount of characters and the alternating POVs and timelines. However, it gets better as the book goes on and is a quick read to the finish due to the suspense.

I liked this book and wished there was more discourse online about it so I could learn others' thoughts. However, the ending was unsatisfying because it was open ended (a bitter end, as some could say) due to Delaney's mysterious disappearance and Willa's realization.

I rate it a (very specific) 8.3/10

[bloodmaarked]

bitter orange tree // jokha alharthi

first published: 2016 read: 04 april 2025 - 07 april 2025 pages: 214 format: paperback

genres: fiction; literary fiction; historical fiction; middle eastern literature (oman) favourite character(s): suroor least favourite character(s): i didn't have one first line(s): "i open my eyes suddenly and see her fingers."

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 thoughts: bitter orange tree was a little different than what i usually like, in the sense that it is a much more fluid, abstract form of literary fiction. lots of switching between timelines, between chapters, within chapters, sometimes (if i remember correctly) even within the same paragraph. even so, i enjoyed my short time in this world. the writing is pensive and at times disorienting, and i liked the themes at play and getting to read a story from an omani author.

while a short read, the story manages to pack a few emotional punches. i found myself most caught up in bint aamir's long, storied life, suroor's all-encompassing love, and zuhour's sister's trials. the story was an exploration of so many facets of womanhood through its multiple characters. i think most of the other female characters were stronger compared to zuhour as the main character, whose grief was interesting to explore but was otherwise a little underdeveloped, i feel.

i thought the writing was pretty and this was one example of a translated work where i wasn't left wondering whether this would have been a far more enjoyable read had i been able to read it in the original language.

i don't know if i'd necessarily read more from jokha alharthi, but i am definitely glad i read bitter orange tree and would recommend it if you're looking to expand your literary horizons!

[everydayesterday]

My first completed book of 2025.

As someone who grew up, and worked in Northern Canada, and experienced the desperately cold winters, I found it a quite captivating story (historical fiction, mid-1840s) of the British quest to find the Northwest Passage. and there's cannibalism, which was historically accurate, and is always fun.

Some reviews found the slow pace to be quite boring, but I feel that was likely deliberate, capturing the desolate and debilitating emptiness of being stranded for years in a vast landscape of nothingness. [I can only imagine that, if I were stuck in a similar situation, I would run out of thoughts to think.]

Bitter Passage, by Colin Mills, 4.5 ⭐ (5)

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: A witty, charming standalone novella starring Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, who must get to the bottom of a mystery involving a newly turned child vampire. 

A barrow-wight shows up on Greta and Varney’s doorstep one night with 11-year-old Lucy Ashton who’s been newly—and forcefully—bitten and turned. Who did this to her, and why? With the help of her vampiric friends, Greta is determined to find out.

Review:

A witty and charming story that is a fresh take on Dracula featuring Greta Helsing, a doctor to the undead who has to figure out who has turned an 11 year old Lucy into a vampire! This was a really cute read and i thought it was such an interesting take. It's got some of the classic characters but with a whole new perspective and the overall story itself was short and sweet. It's a fun time to read and I would absolutely recommend it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Orbit Books | Orbit for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[libertyreads]

Book Review #52 of 2024--

The Bitter End by Alexa Donne. Rating: 3 stars.

Read from September 2nd to 6th.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Random House Children's for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. In The Bitter End, we follow eight teens from an LA prep school on their winter retreat. Most kids gets to spend a week in Paris speaking French or a week touring castles in the U.K. But these eight kids gets stuck on a ski slope in Colorado. How did they wind up here? And what will they do when they realize there's a murderer in their midst? The Bitter End comes out on October 14th and is available for preorder now.

This was a fun and fast paced read that definitely built up steam as it went on. I think the highlights for this book for me were the pace and the thrilling elements of the story. Once the story hit its climax, it never let up. The ending was probably the best part of this novel. I did enjoy the setting and the psychological aspects of this mystery. There were also what felt like a few Easter eggs related to the 1985 cinematic masterpiece Clue starring Tim Curry. So that was fun to see pop up now and again. I think I would have liked a bit more time in the beginning to get my footing with all of the characters before we started in on the action. But this was still a good time.

I struggle with how to explain my chief complaint with this one because it's not something I've seen happen often enough to know how to voice it. There are a few moments throughout the novel where you're reading from the perspective of a character and then suddenly you lose clarity in the actions. Suddenly something you don't understand happens and it's vague and weirdly convoluted. There's one moment in particular that sticks out here for me which is when a girl is skiing down the mountain on the first day and racing another girl and suddenly the first girl is tripped up. And I think the point was to add some mystery here: did the other girl trip her? Was it an accident? Or did the first girl trip herself in order to blame the other girl and get others to turn on her? And I just don't know if you can rely on making moments intentionally vague in order to push a mystery story forward, especially when every other moment in the novel is crystal clear.

Overall, this was a fun and fast read for me (despite having very few hours to devote to reading this week). I'm also eyeing up some of this author's previous work to see if I might want to read something from their backlog.